Bo Mekmorakod

What is a Quiet Zone?

A Quiet Zone is a railroad grade crossing at which trains are prohibited from sounding their horns in order to decrease the noise level for nearby residential communities. The train horns can be silenced only when other safety measures compensate for the absence of the horns.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) train horn rule provides localities nationwide with the opportunity to establish Quiet Zones. The federal rule pre-empts all applicable state laws. To qualify, communities wishing to establish Quiet Zones must equip proposed grade crossings with adequate safety measures to overcome the decrease in safety created by silencing the train horns. The additional safety measures must be constructed at the community’s own expense and must meet federal specifications. The federal rule also contains language, which for the first time restricts the volume of train horns.

In response to a legislative mandate, FRA has issued a Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings. This final rule, which requires that locomotive horns be sounded as a warning to highway users at public highway-rail crossings, took effect on June 24, 2005. The final rule provides an opportunity, not available before, for thousands of localities nationwide to mitigate the effects of train horn noise by establishing new Quiet Zones.

What is the Status of the Washington Quiet Zone?

The Washington Corridor is currently under consideration for implementation of a Quiet Zone. In fact, the City of Houston's Public Works Department has created a plan to implement the Quiet Zone. Funds have been allocated for fiscal years 2008 through 2013 to implement these Quiet Zones.

The opportunity for our neighborhood lies in the fact that there are 13 other areas of Houston that are also seeking Quiet Zone designation, and financial resources for implementation of Quiet Zone plans are limited.

The City of Houston is in the process of prioritizing the 14 potential Quiet Zones and a list will be announced in the coming weeks. We want to be first on the list!

As with many City Government issues, traditionally the "squeaky wheel gets the grease," and the more residents of the area we can get to call, e-mail and mail in their support for the Quiet Zone, the higher we may be placed on the list of priority Zones.

If we, as a neighborhood, will voice our support of the initiative, we can look forward to realizing the Washington corridor's true potential and raising our quality of life.

The Washington Corridor Quiet Zone is finally getting implemented. The Residents have spoken- loud and clear! Construction is to be completed in April 2010. The Quiet Zone is an area where the train is not allowed to blow its horn when crossing a major intersection. There is a major rail line that runs through the Washington Corridor which consist of residential neighborhoods: The Old Sixth Ward, West End, Memorial Heights, Sawyer Heights, Camp Logan and Rice Military.

These neighborhoods have experienced revitalization over the past 10 years. What used to be a community of dilapidated bungalow homes on block and beams have transformed to 3-story townhomes and single-family homes. The property value excelled from $50,000 a home to an average of $350,000 in a matter of 5 years. The draw to the area is the proximity to Downtown Houston, Memorial Park and neighboring communities such as River Oaks and Hyde Park. Though the location was convenient, the train was not!

The train has always been a nuisance to the residents. A few residents claim that the train conductor blared its horn at least 30 times a day. I personally own a home less than a block away from the train and I can attest to that. The train runs day and night. After a while, you adapt to your environment and the horn becomes silent noise, dare I say. On the other hand, now that the Quiet Zone is coming into fruition, this change will be much easier to adapt to.

Below is a picture of a townhome along the Wasington Corridor and train track.

Rice Military is a bustling neighborhood in the Inner Loop of Houston, Texas. It has transitioned into one of Houston's highly sought out neighborhoods from Yuppies (young professionals), artists, young families and empty-nesters. Due to high demand and increasing land prices, developers and builders constructed 3-story townhouses and single-family residences to maximize space and margin.

After 10 (more or less) years of transformation, Rice Military bloomed from one of the lower income neighborhoods with an average of $55,000 homes to $300,000 homes. The majority are townhouses and single-family residences. So what is the difference? The best way to tell the difference is that townhomes have adjoining walls and single-family homes do not. Though most homes sit on a zero lot line, which means one side of the house sits directly on the property line while the other has a minimum of 5 feet for the building line, they are still considered single-family because they do not share wall space.

The picture above is a great example of a single-family residence in the neghborhood. As you can see, it does not share an wall with the house next door but it sits at least 5 feet away from it.

How does the value of the Townhouses and Single-Family Homes compare to each other?

Below are statistics from HAR (Houston Associates of Realtors) on the Single-Family Market vs. the Townhome/Condo Market.

HAR also breaks out the sales performance of existing single-family homes throughout the Houston market. In January 2010, existing home sales totaled 2,071, an 11.9 percent drop from January 2009. The median sales price rose 13.7 percent to $133,000 compared to last year. The average sales price of $180,159 shot up 23.0 percent from its January 2009 level.

Single-Family Homes

January sales of all single-family homes in Houston totaled 2,514, down 12.3 percent from January 2009. This is the Houston market’s second consecutive monthly decline in sales. However, broken out by segment, sales of single-family homes priced between $250,000 and $500,000 jumped 21.6 percent in January while sales of luxury homes—those priced from $500,000 to the millions—surged 40.0 percent. By contrast, sales of homes in the below-$80,000 segment fell 28.9 percent and those priced between $80,000 and $150,000 slid 19.3 percent.

Townhouse/Condo

The number of townhouses and condominiums that sold in January rose 14.8 percent compared to one year earlier. In the greater Houston area, 241 units were sold last month versus 210 properties in January 2009.

The median price of a townhouse/condominium fell 11.3 percent year-over-year to $111,500. The average price slipped 4.3 percent to $147,501 from January 2009 to January 2010

Gran it, the statistics are on the overall market in Houston, Texas. The townhome inventory in Rice Military dominants the market in Rice Military. In my opinion, the Buyer’s perception of a single-family home is better because they are not sharing a common wall with their neighbor. Ever heard of the phrase, fences build good neighbors? While it is true in most cases, the residents of Rice Military have adapted to neighbors at arms length.

View more homes in Rice Military.

What an exciting time to be a resident of the Eagle Springs community! Soon to come is the addition of Elementary School #26 of Humble ISD. It is the first of its kind. Designed to be built to the criteria of a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

What this means is that our children will be learning in environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities for a quality education. Raising awareness of the impact and advantages of high performance schools is vital in this day and age. With interactive kiosks that are connected to the building's operation systems, the students are able to see at any time of the school day how efficiently the building is performing.

Rainwater collection will be used for irrigation purposes as well as solar panels that convert the sun's energy to power computers in the library. The school will also be equipped with a decomposer and pulpier to convert food waste and other recyclable materials into mulch that will be used to enhance the school grounds. With these practices in mind, it will increase student eco-consciouseness and healthier facilities.

This is more than anything that you can learn or teach from a book- it is REAL! The children can reach out and touch it. With the CHPS verification (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) recognition as well this will be the only school in Texas to achieve both high standards.

Humble ISD Elementary School #26 under construction